


The Laws of Space and Time

by CJRiley



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Adventure, F/F, Romance, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-11
Updated: 2018-02-25
Packaged: 2019-03-16 16:56:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13640475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CJRiley/pseuds/CJRiley
Summary: Could there have been any other ending for Max and Chloe? Surely there are no limits to the laws of space and time.





	1. In My Mind

Max Caulfield stands at the peak overlooking Arcadia Bay, her knees quaking at the bedlam unfolding before her, at the carnage yet to come. The unassuming photography student never intended for any of this to happen: when Max assumed the powers of time travel, her first priority was to save lives. She never used any of her newfound abilities to her benefit! No winning lottery tickets, no cheating on exams. So why, why did it all lead to this?

“Max, you know what you have to do.” Chloe Price cries out through the howling wind. Max’s best friend was, in a sense, everything that she was not. For someone who appeared to lose all hope in life, Chloe embodied every emotion that came with being alive.

Much had changed in the years before their reunion: Ever the rebel, Chloe had dyed her hair blue and draped her right arm in tattoos. She had become jaded, hardened by the terrible hand fate had dealt her and ready to flip the bird at the Man. And yet, right now, she was nothing less than selfless.

“No, it’s not possible,” Max kneels, her head buried in her hands. A tornado, perhaps the likes the world had never seen, descends upon Arcadia Bay, and the town’s destruction was imminent. “Chloe, I have done everything, everything that I could to save you. I will not lose you again! Our friendship, our relationship, is the most precious, challenging, beautiful thing that I has ever been mine.”

“And it’s over!” Chloe shouts, stunning Max to silence. “You hear me? Our relationship – it’s done! If you don’t go back in time and let Nathan shoot me, let me die…” She places a hand on her cheek, soaked in rainwater and tears, and forces herself to continue. “Then everyone in Arcadia Bay could perish. There isn’t a day you’ll be able to look at my face and not experience guilt, not a day that will go by that I won’t feel the same. So you look into that photo and go back there…”

“It doesn’t matter if we aren’t together – I can’t sacrifice you. This…is out of my hands.”

“No it’s not!” Chloe seizes Max by the shoulders and shakes her violently. “Look at me! You’re not the only person with loved ones, so stop being so goddamn selfish! I mean yes, let’s face it, most of the people in that pathetic town don’t deserve another chance – Victoria, Mr. Jefferson, Nathan…I’ve had moments when I felt like burning it all down.

“But Max, don’t you dare let my mother die! Don’t do this to Kate and Warren and Justin. And for what? There isn’t a more unloved person in town than me. You are the only friend who really cared. And yours is the only opinion that will matter when I’m gone.”

It never ceased to amaze Max how someone as cool as Chloe thought so highly of a demure geek like her. But now was not the time for sentimentality. Max grips the photograph of the blue butterfly and, summoning all of her courage, walks to the edge of the cliff.

“Max,” Chloe encourages her from behind. “You’re the only one who can end it. And no matter how you may feel, in the years afterward, don’t ever forget. You are a hero, and the most selfless person I know.”

With these words, Max’s body instinctively turns around, her arms wrapping around Chloe’s waist. Why couldn’t she just tell her, what she had known all this time, the feelings her nightmare had laid bare, how all this time all she ever needed was right there in front of her, and just…lean forward and kiss the one she loved most? But no, she had a mission to focus on and could not afford to give herself more time to doubt that decision.

“I love you, Chloe. Please forgive me.”

“There is nothing to forgive,” Chloe manages a smile. “This is the bravest act any person can ever be expected to make…Regardless of what happens, I hope you’ll move onward and live life to its fullest. I love you too, Max. Always.”

Max stares into the photograph, but her powers fail her. _For once in her life, could she do something right? Think of the people, how scared they were, the children, they were all counting on her…_

Chloe walks up behind her friend and holds her in an embrace. Why did it have to be this way? They were just two girls who grew up longing to be pirates. Two girls with larger than life dreams trying to make sense of a messed up world.

“I can’t do this without you,” Max whimpers.

“I’m right here. I’ll be with you all the way.”

Slowly but surely, the world around them compresses inward until finally…


	2. To All of You

How many minutes did she have remaining inside this memory? Max stays hidden behind a bathroom stall, overhearing the footsteps of Nathan Prescott, the deranged student whose family owned Arcadia Bay all but in name. All she had to do was keep quiet, let this moment pass, and suppress the urge to turn back time.

“Nobody would even miss your punk ass, would they?!”

“Get that gun away from me, psycho!”

Max grits her teeth and wets her pants as she hears Nathan feuding with Chloe. She wanted so much to run over, to hug and shield her friend from the inevitable. In a fraction of a second, Nathan pulls the trigger, killing Chloe instantly.

Max’s heart falls, her cheeks blanketed with tears. With all her strength, she steadies the camera for a shot: evidence of the crime. She bites her tongue to prevent herself from wailing at the sight of her best friend, lifeless in a pool of blood. Chloe would die never knowing how much her best friend still cared for her.

No one should ever have to witness or go through what Max did, not at her age. She would go on to report the murder, it was the type of action she would take…

 

And then Max finds herself sitting on the bench by the lighthouse, overlooking Arcadia Bay. It would now be the same time, a week later, when she made her decision to save the town. But there is no tornado in sight, and sunlight warms her skin.

She looks around and instinctively reaches for her phone to call Chloe. But the number fails to go through and she remembered: her friend had switched numbers and it hadn’t been until their reunion that she received the new digits. She would never hear her voice again.

Max had made the choice, abandoned Chloe in her moment of need, left her to die. It was the only conceivable decision, and she knew her friend would not want her to wallow in guilt but…now it would be her against the world. Alone.

What had transpired the past week? Heads would turn if she asked. But her diary! One thing that would never change is her meticulous journaling habits.

 

Reclined in her dormitory bed, Max opens her diary and begins to read. She learns of Nathan’s arrest and how he agreed to implicate Mr. Jefferson, her psychopathic photography professor, in exchange for a more lenient sentence. How Nathan’s downfall cast a stain on the Prescott family and halted their plans to develop Pan Estates.

In light of recent events, everyone believed Nathan had drugged Max’s friend Kate and Mr. Jefferson had taken the compromising photographs of her. As a result, Kate was treated with much more compassion the past week and did not attempt suicide. Still, Max made a mental note to pay her a visit.

 

Life was tougher for Chloe’s family. The next morning, Max catches a bus to the Two Whales Diner, where Chloe’s mother Joyce worked, just to reminisce on old times.

As Max enters, she is surprised to find Joyce returning to work so soon after the funeral.

“Nice to see you, Max,” Joyce says while ferrying two plates of pancakes. “Sit anywhere you like, and I’ll be right with you.”

Max turns to see Chloe’s stepfather David cleaning the tables.

“This one’s clean,” David gives the table one last wipe and pats the back of a seat.

“What can I do for you?” Joyce arrives with a menu.

Max takes a seat and looks up at Chloe’s parents. “I was actually hoping if I could just talk to you two. About Chloe.”

Joyce and David exchange a knowing glance before sitting across from Max. “What would you like to know?” Joyce asks.

They talk and reflect on Chloe, recounting how painful her death was on each of them: how much David really did care for his stepdaughter, how devastating it was for a mother to bury a child. Max knew their daughter had died to save them, but of course she could never reveal this to them. Who would believe her?

“Thank you, Max.” Joyce says, dabbing tears from her eyes. “For delivering that beautiful eulogy. She wouldn’t have wanted it to have been anyone else. I know it’s been years since you two last connected but…it felt like you still understood her most.”

_I killed your daughter._

David reaches over to hold his wife’s hand before turning to Max. “We left, um, Chloe’s room the way it was. It’s her stuff, and it’s right for us to touch it. But…we would be honored if you wanted to stop by and take some of it home with you.”

“I…I couldn’t do it.”

“Please, Max,” Joyce says. “This has all been difficult for all of us, but we believe it’s best some of her things be put to use.”

Max gives in and after Joyce’s shift, David drives them to their house. Joyce invites her guest to rummage through Chloe’s belongings: A pirate hat, an American flag, a Firewalk poster…and a box of photographs. What would happen now if she stared long enough into a photograph of them together? No, she couldn’t do that, if there was anything the past week had taught her it was this much.

“Is this…” Max opens up a journal. “I didn’t see her as the type to keep one.”

“You can keep it,” Joyce replies. “We can’t decipher her handwriting anyways.”

 

Back in her dormitory, Max flips through Chloe’s journal. How self-centered was she to focus on the sections where her name is mentioned? Perhaps she shouldn’t be surprised to learn how much hurt she caused by avoiding her friend’s texts during their years apart. Nevertheless, she was taken aback by all the “MIA ex-best friend ghosted me” angst, even as Chloe attempts to reason with it. There were letters her friend intended to send to her, grumbling about being ignored yet open and honest about life experiences.

But Max loved her so much, even if she was the one who brought out all those insecurities in her friend. It was never like that…all this time, while Max was anxious over her worth, Chloe had felt the same but didn’t even need to! Did her friend forget what Max had told her younger self right after turning back time?

"We'll be best friends forever,” Chloe had proclaimed, back when her idealism was still intact. “And when we grow up, we're taking over the world."

“Whatever happens, I want you to be strong,” Max replied. “Even if you feel like I wasn’t there for you, because I will never abandon you, Chloe Price. I’ll always have your back.”

After several pages of repetitive angst, Max was beginning to get the picture. But then she comes across one entry:

“I was planning to rant today about how Max abandoned me in all this shit blah blah blah, but the truth is I envy her. She’s so damn perfect, so genuinely kind and sensitive and caring. She never even needs to feel guilt or shame or apologize for everything. She never broke any hearts, would never harm anyone. Besides me, that is.”

And when Rachel Amber came along, Chloe was so happy. Max should envy her, but honestly she was glad her friend had an angel looking after her for as long as she did.

Max turns to the final pages and reads: “Sometimes when I look back on it all, I try to piece together my feelings. Yes, Max was my friend, the only one who knew me. She’s the only person left who I would give my life for, and I would think she’d do the same, not that it mattered. Ours is a special relationship, and if Max wanted us to begin this new journey together and say, ‘hop in the car, let’s go,’ I’m there. That is, if she really wanted to.”

Chloe did like her! Max should have kissed her when she had the chance. Instead, all she left behind was hurt and pain. Her friend needed her, and she wasn't there.

 

The next day, Max skips her morning classes. Her mind is unsettled, stomach nauseous. She couldn’t erase the vision of Chloe’s death, the unfairness of it all. Why does she get to live while her friend, who had suffered enough, did not? Fuck the laws of the universe.

Max peers out of her dormitory window in a daze, at the movements of her fellow classmates, going about their lives oblivious to the fact that had she chosen differently they would have been wiped off the map. What did they know about what she had been through? Did any of them even care about Chloe? Why did she even bother to save them?

No. No, no, no. What she did was right. It was a mutual decision. And it would be her last venture into time travel. Even if she wanted to, Max wasn’t sure she still held that power. She couldn’t risk it. For once, she feels grateful the power had resided with her. In different hands, someone else would sooner have the planet absorbed by a black hole than lose out in a single-minded quest for money, love, and power.

“Max! Earth to Max…”

No, not now. But that was definitely Warren’s voice outside her room. Max wills herself to leave the bed and open the door.

“Warren, how’d you get in here? This is the women’s…”

“Dana let me in. She’s worried about you. I brought you some chicken soup.” Her nerdy lab partner Warren, who harbored a not-so-secret crush, responds with a smile. “How are you? Did you watch the videos I sent you yesterday?”

“Uh…sorry. Now’s not a good time, you know, with what happened to Chloe…”

“Just wanted to make sure you’re still alive,” Warren hands her a paper bag with the soup. “You haven’t been returning any of my texts. Or anyone else’s, it seems.”

 “I just…can’t, right now,” Max replies. “I can’t really function in all this…”

“Did you hear Kate won the Everyday Heroes photo contest?” Warren continues, eager to fit in all he can say in their first meeting in days. “Since Mr. Jefferson is in jail, she got to bring a guest and she wanted you to join her in San Francisco but you never responded. Didn’t you want to go?…Hey, Max! Are you even listening? What’s going on?”

“What’s this really about, Warren?” Max snaps. “Why are you really here? You know that my best friend died not that long ago – can’t you respect the fact that I need some space?!”

Warren opens his mouth, unsure of what to make of the incident. Calm, soft-spoken Max Caulfield causing a scene?

“Okay then. I’ll go…”

“Warren, I’m sorry. It’s not you.”

“So says every girl…look, I honestly do care. Whatever it is that’s bothering you, you can tell me.”

“Trust me, you’re better off not knowing.”

“I know it’s tough to lose a friend, but you hadn’t even talked to Chloe in years!”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about!”

“Okay, I’m sorry. Look. I’m willing to wait, Max, however long it takes. If you’re up to it, I hope to see you at the Two Whales Diner Friday night. As I’m sure you know, the Vortex Club is holding a benefit for Chloe’s family to cover the funeral costs. If you’re not feeling up to it or…if you just don’t want to see me again, I understand.” Before Max could offer a reply, Warren turns around and leaves.

There really were few friends as loyal as him. Max didn’t know how long it would take for her to recover. Chloe would have told her, commanded her to move on with her life, but there simply wasn’t a realistic path to recovery.

Max had turned back time, and for what? Just to end up where she had started. The only difference was that she was broken. A broken piece of shit who failed to save her best friend.


	3. Obstacles

Friday. Max had plodded her way through the week. The first one would be the toughest, but then there would be another Friday, and then another. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right? After everything she had endured, she surely earned her superhero cape. Super Max.

Shortly after getting dressed, Max hears a knock at the door. She opens it, revealing Kate, her strait-laced Christian friend.

“Kate! I’m so happy to see you again,” Max welcomes her friend with a warm embrace. “You look fantastic. How was San Francisco?”

“The day at the gallery was one of the best in my life,” Kate beams, taking a seat on Max’s couch. “I made so many connections.”

Kate pulls out a stack of business cards from her pocket, and Max couldn’t help but feel a prick of jealousy for not submitting a winning photograph.

“I heard you and Warren got into a fight. That’s not like you.”

Max furrows her brow. “What did he tell you?”

“He didn’t say anything. Juliet overheard and told everybody.”

_And I kept her abortion a secret._

Max sits on her bed and places her hands on her knees. “I don’t hate Warren or anything like that. His intentions are good, but sometimes that’s the problem.”

“He’s a good guy. Cute.”

“Are you shipping us?”

Kate shrugs. “Good men aren’t always easy to find, that’s all.”

“Listen. Warren and you are my two closest friends right now. I care about you two so much. But, my love life should be the least of your worries right now.”

Kate nods. “I didn’t mean to pry. I’m sorry about Chloe. I didn’t know her very well, but I feel terribly for what her family went through. If you need anything Max, I’ll be here.”

“I know. Thanks Kate.”

“Can I…” Kate summons her courage, as though she had wanted to ask the question a thousand times before. “Can I…pray for you?”

Max looks in surprise and points to herself. “You want to pray? For me? Oh…okay. Sure.”

Kate reaches over to take her friend’s hands into hers, and they close their eyes. “Heavenly Father, thank you for blessing me with this moment with my good friend Max. I pray for Chloe, that her soul may find peace and solace, and for Max, whatever trials she goes through, that she grow closer to you, Lord, and witness your glory and mercy.”

Regardless of where she stood on the God debate, Max couldn’t help but appreciate her friend’s earnest attempt and genuine concern.

“In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

“Thanks Kate, I actually do feel a little better.”

“You do? Well, I’m leading Bible study in...”

“Let’s take it one step at a time. But I promise I’ll stop by sometime.” Anything for a friend.

 

The last class of the week was Ms. Grant’s science lab. Despite her general disinterest in science, Max had always looked forward to the lectures, that was how good they were.

Still, as Max sat in class she couldn’t focus. Time was supposed to speed up the healing process, so why wasn’t it happening for her?

 _Hey loser._ Max scans the seat across from her and spots a blue-haired rebel smirking at her. _So let me get this straight: You don’t talk to me for five years, but it isn’t until I’m dead that you’re all defeated and downtrodden._

Max turns her head away. She isn’t real, can’t be.

_Hey, I’m kidding. You know I can say stupid shit sometimes. Defense mechanism._

Max tries to focus on the lecture, away from the fact that she must be hallucinating.

_Listen, Maxster. I know how much this sucks for you._

_Me? You fucking died, Chloe._

_You know what? I was going to tell you to get over yourself and quit wallowing in your pity party, but knowing you, you’d probably end up doing things your way. But…I wanted to tell you that I’m going to be okay. Really._

“Why don’t you call on Max?” Victoria, her tormentor with an impeccable style, sneers from across the room. “You avoided calling on your favorite student all week!”

 _I can’t believe I saved your ass._ It didn’t matter if Victoria was the most popular girl in school. Max would give up ten, a hundred, Victorias for Chloe.

Ms. Grant gives in. “Max, do you know the answer?”

“Oh, sorry. What page…”

“Page 162,” Warren whispers as Victoria and her posse erupt in giggles.

“We are going over the first three dimensions in the universe,” Ms. Grant says, careful not to display any appearances of favoritism.

“Well, the first is like a line, the second a flat surface,” Max explains. “The third…that’s us right now. Three-dimensional objects, depth…”

“That’s correct. Now, if we look to…”

“What about the fourth?” Brooke, a student sitting in the front, raises her hand. “If we wear 4D glasses…”

“That term was coined as a marketing gimmick,” Ms. Grant replies. “The fourth dimension is time.”

“Is that possible…traveling across time?” Max hears herself blurt out.

“News flash, we are moving across time right this instant,” Victoria smirks.

“But if we were to, for whatever reason, travel at a speed faster than light and turn back time…”

“I don’t happen to think it possible, but if it was we had better start interrogating every person who wins the lottery.” Ms. Grant replies, and the class chuckles.

“But, say, if someone was able to travel back in time after viewing the winning numbers,” Max continues. “Is that all there is on the fourth dimensional plane? That there’s only one possible reality now, the one where they won, and the one where they saw the numbers gets erased?”

Victoria starts whispering to a friend about the insanity of Max’s question, but Warren speaks up. “Max has a point. There still has to be a world where the lottery winner did not win, right? Because after he sees the numbers, he goes back in time, but the original universe wouldn’t just cease to exist. Now there are two worlds: One where he only saw the number and went about his day not a penny richer. And one where he went back in time and hit the jackpot.”

Ms. Grant places a hand on her chin and smiles. “That has been a popular theory, and it’s not entirely out of the question. With time travel, you could potentially create multiple universes every time you go back. You could turn back time to save a life, but the universe where they died would still pass on. You would continue on in this newly generated alternate universe of your own making.

“Of course, it is probably impossible to know if this is true even if you were able to time travel. There are all sorts of theories: Many-worlds, quantum strings, parallel universes…For all we know there could be a multitude of Maxes going about their lives in different realities. It’s an interesting topic to ponder, isn’t it? Now for homework…”

Multiple universes? As the class ends, Max feels connected to the world around her for the first time all week. The environment had color, movement had sound, life had…purpose. In all of her rewinds, Chloe had died, in one way or another. It pained her to think that in the multiple attempts to save her friend’s life, she may have ended up killing her, over and over.

And yet…

Somewhere out there, across the dimensions, there was one outcome where…

After class, Max files out of Blackwell Academy and chases down her lab partner. “Warren!”

Warren removes his ear buds and turns around in surprise. “Yes?”

“I would love to go to the Two Whales Diner with you tonight. I’m sorry I…”

“Don’t even worry about it,” Warren replies. “I…uh, wrote a song about your friend, and I’m planning to perform it at the diner. You could bring your guitar and…I’ll message you the chords.”

“That’s…incredibly sweet. She would have loved knowing someone did that for her.”

“I’ll meet you outside your dorm at five. I can drive.” He offers a hand, and Max shakes it.

“It’s a deal.”

Max returns to the science classroom for one last glimpse and smiles for the first time all week. Her earlier vision of Chloe had vanished, but she had a feeling her friend had found her peace.

 

***

 

Standing beside the lighthouse, the wind whipping violently against her body, Max struggles to make out the photograph of the blue butterfly.

“Hang in there. You can do it!” Chloe grips onto Max’s waist tightly. And then…

Max finds herself floating, not quite moving linearly across time, as though she was on a separate plane, no longer bound to the laws of space and time. She can see her physical body below, focusing on the photograph and then…a faint image of Chloe carrying her up the peak, but moving in reverse. The storm disappears and the clouds clear. Nightfall, then day.

Chloe, eyes closed, holds onto her friend for dear life as Max notices different visions drifting around her, dozens, maybe hundreds of them, frozen in time like photographs. Images of Chloe shot by Mr. Jefferson, run over by a speeding train, dying on the hospital bed... _What is this?_ And then it hits her...they were about to turn into one of the depressing visions.

Max feels her friend’s grip loosening. _No, Chloe!_ She turns her body around and tries to grab onto her, but they are already floating apart. Max grabs Chloe’s hands in desperation, but her left grip would fail her. They are spinning through space and time, Max’s right hand tightly clinging to Chloe’s left. _Almost there…I’m sorry I made you go through all this…_

Max counts the number of times the moon appears in the sky…this was it, now! Chloe dangles limply as they hover over the Blackwell bathroom the week prior. Max sees her body below, quivering as Nathan pulls the trigger. She had done it, left her friend to die and saved the town. Then the vision fades to a blinding white…

Max slowly opens her eyes and notices a doe in the distance. She had seen it before, guiding her journey…and now it was speaking: a gentle, female voice. _Now I’m really losing it._

“Take care of her…”

Max slowly nods in understanding. “I will…Rachel Amber.”

The doe turns around and leaps away.

Max knew what she had to do…Chloe did not belong here. She fights her friend’s grip and wrests her hand free as they float apart. She returns to the lighthouse and lands in her body below before crumpling to the ground, fainting in Chloe’s arms.

“Max, no!” Chloe cradles her friend in her arms, trying to wake her but to no avail. “Please, no!”


	4. Something Good

 Max awakens in the back of Chloe’s truck, her friend’s jacket draped across her chest. She jolts up with such urgency she twists her back.

“Chloe!” Max forces the truck door open and gazes at the skies above. The storm had passed and before her…God no. The town, demolished.

“Max!” Chloe drops a can of gasoline, runs over, and wraps her arms around her friend. “I thought I lost you. Lost everyone I ever loved.”

“I thought I saved the town. What happened? How long has it been?”

“Two hours, maybe three.”

“What about your mom, Blackwell Academy…my powers didn’t work,” Max breaks into tears. “I failed them!”

“No, no you didn’t.” Chloe recounts what happened, how she had traveled back in time with her, but after Max let her friend die, they both returned to this universe. Somehow, their story didn’t end, it continued onwards.

“Look at what just fucking happened!” Max cries out.

“Max, listen!” Chloe replies. “When I held you in my arms, I felt myself moving back in time with you. Eventually, I couldn’t hold on anymore and let go but…knowing you, I have no doubt you succeeded. You saved the town, but then we came back here.”

Max takes a moment to digest the revelation and recalls images of the different universes she had created. “So all the times I turned back time, I created these separate worlds…and time is still passing through them.”

“I don’t know, but that’s the only explanation we have for it.”

“We should look for survivors. Start with the diner, that’s where your mom and Warren were last.”

They get in the truck and drive off to Arcadia Bay. As they survey the devastation around them, Max’s heart falls. It was disheartening, seeing their hometown razed to the ground. Chloe places a supportive hand on her friend’s shoulder.

“What’s done is done. You did everything you can.”

“That doesn’t take back the fact that the town is gone.”

“True, but I think if this is what the universe has left for us, then we best make out of it what we can. You told me before, to stop believing the world was against me. Maybe it still is, but…there is no point pining over this. We better head to Seattle now.”

 

That night, they stop at a roadside diner, their hearts heavy from the carnage they witnessed. The news report on television turns to the devastation at Arcadia Bay and the futile search efforts by the National Guard.

“Shame, whole town wiped off the map, just like that,” a trucker mumbles. “My cousin used to live there. Beautiful place.”

Chloe returns to the table with a piece of pie and cup of coffee. “Hey, come on,” she taps the table. “Don’t beat yourself up over what you had no control over. You chose to save the town, and I know you succeeded. What else could have been expected of you?”

“It doesn’t make those people any more alive in this reality.”

“Max, I know healing over something like this will require a heck of a lot of time, but…you’re going to need to get over yourself. How can we make it through in this world if you can’t get over this?”

“Chloe, I thought you understood.”

“You don’t think I feel guilty and shit? But I had absolutely no control over what happened, and neither did you. So we’re going to make the best out of this bullshit.”

“It’s not just that. What if fate…you weren’t meant to be alive, Chloe. This past week, we saw beached whales, an eclipse, snow, the tornado…what if it never ends? What if you’re just a walking Armageddon and it keeps on going? Because I can’t end it, I can’t let you die.” Max breaks down, her face buried in her hands. “I’m scared…I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Chloe takes a seat next to Max, drapes a supportive arm around her friend’s waist, and sighs. “If it continues, then I’ll end it.”

“No!” Max turns to her friend, tears streaming down her chin. “Then Arcadia Bay would have been wiped out for nothing. I can’t…”

“Then what, Max? What the fuck can we do about it? Everything you’ve done has been for the good of everyone else, and if I have to play my part then there’s no point moping about this!”

 

They lie in silence on separate motel beds. Why couldn’t Chloe just understand…throwing a fit when Max didn’t have a choice in the matter of time travel? And how could she ever know, how Max truly felt, why it was so difficult to say goodbye? It wasn’t that long ago when they discovered Rachel had died. Max closes her eyes and her mind drifts away…

Max enters her Blackwell dormitory and heads to her room. She opens the door…to find a grassy field on the other side. A crowd of students clad in graduation caps and gowns mill about, optimistic of the future ahead. And in the middle…was her. She is wearing Chloe’s necklace, the one with three bullet casings, over her gown.

“Together now, photo time!” Max’s mother readies her camera as Max, Warren, and Kate lean together.

“Beautiful,” Max’s father says. “How about I treat you all out to drinks? What, they’re too young for that?”

Max shuts the door, puzzled by what she had just witnessed. This must be the reality where Arcadia Bay was not destroyed. She turns around and notices a bright light shining behind Victoria’s room. She walks over and opens it…

“I’m so sorry, Chloe.” Max sees herself, crying into Chloe’s chest on the hospital bed shortly after administering a lethal dose of morphine. It had been her friend’s final request, to end it all. “I never wanted it to end this way.”

_What did you do to me, Max?_

Max slams the door shut, her heart beating wildly. What the hell was that? Lastly, she notices Kate’s door is slightly ajar. She tiptoes her way to the room and pushes the door open…

To find a woman naked inside a warm bath in a large bathroom. _Where was she?_

It takes a few seconds before Max realizes that the woman in the bathtub was…her. She looks different, but there was something about that pensive expression that would never change. Max slowly enters, stepping into the bath, resting into the woman, feeling at peace.

The calm is interrupted by a loud jingle. Max hurriedly exits the bath and notices a small, rectangular piece of glass with flashing lights, vibrating on top of a pile of clothes. She lifts the device up, surprised at how light it is, and scans the caller ID: _Big Boss_. “Hello?”

“Maxine, I know you’re on vacation but we need your package by tonight. And don’t send me 2,000 photos like last time; I need the 20 best shots. Don’t you dare use AI filtering. I’ll know.”

“Uh…yes ma’am.”

“I’ll be sitting at my desk and refreshing my inbox every thirty seconds. Get snapping.” Click.

_Who was that?_

Max gets dressed, wipes a hand through the foggy mirrors, and gazes at the skinny woman staring back at her: she is taller, her face worn with age.

She leaves the bathroom and looks out the hallway window, to beach outside. The kitchen table is scattered with half empty wine glasses, the living room is scented with lavender candles. Did someone really leave rose petals on the hallway? She steps out into the balcony of the beach house, glimpsing a woman with brown hair and blue highlights, framed in the sunset.

_Chloe?_

“About time. Thought you drowned in there.”

“Where…are we?”

“You serious? We’re in Venice, Venice Beach. Your friend at the photo agency got you a deal with the beach house rental, remember?”

“And we live here? In LA? How old are we?”

“What’s gotten into you? Yes, we’ve been living in LA for years now, after what happened in Arcadia Bay. You’re 28.”

“And what happened afterward? Any major natural disasters?”

“If there were any, it wasn’t me I can tell you that.”

“Your hair is brown again…are you wearing a dress?” She had to do a double take: her friend is adorned in a long, flowing tan dress.

“Great insight, Sherlock. And yeah, this is also the last time you’ll see me wearing one. You asked me as a dare.”

“I didn’t know you were such a romantic, Chloe. You should do this more often.” Max runs up and hugs her friend, tears forming in her eyes. “Sorry, I…I’m not letting go of you again.”

Max falls back, and Chloe wraps her arms around her friend’s shoulders. They must have been friends for so long now, but Max had never seen her look so happy. Chloe leans her face forward and their lips meet, in a way that suggested this was all second nature.

This was it, just the two of them, together. This was all she wanted, all she needed. Afterward, Chloe brings Max closer to her chest.

“I think we should catch a picture of the waves at sunset. If that’s all right with you.”

It was all right, and Max finds her old trusty camera in their bedroom. Chloe prepares the tripod and sets a one minute timer before joining Max near the waves.

“You look so serious right now,” Max notes. “What’s up?”

“Max, I know things have been so difficult, but I’m just glad we stuck through it to see all the beauty there is in this world. You know I’m not one for institutions, or winding speeches for that matter, but there is a question I’ve wanted to ask you for a while now...”

Max looks back at the camera, the flashes growing faster by the second. It was almost time. Chloe lowers her body, looking earnestly up at Max, her forehead sweating…”Max. Max? Max?!”

 

Max wakes up. A dream? But it had been so vivid, so real. Like the vision of the tornado.

“Max?” Chloe hovers by the bedside. “We got to get going, the motel’s going to kick us out in…”

Before Max could comprehend her own actions, she presses her lips against Chloe’s, felt her friend relaxing into her.

“Wow. Okay.”

“You could have just told me you harbored a big crush on me. Or will someday.”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” Chloe takes a pillow and playfully smacks Max in the shoulder. “Don’t you dare turn back time for a redo. You’ve met your daily quota.”

Max couldn’t tell Chloe about her vision. It had to happen in its own time. “Join me?” She taps the side of the bed.

“Five minutes, then we need to get packed.” Chloe lies next to her friend.

“To think of it: Of all the possible iterations, this is the one where you make it out alive,” Max says. “So I’m going to make this one count.”

Max wraps her arms around Chloe, who is still adjusting to the sudden displays of affection. “I believe that in at least one universe, you deserve to live and be happy, one world where we deserve to be together. So I’m not going to leave you ever again. I love you so much.”

“Thanks Cyrano.” Chloe says.  “And Max? If I’m ever dumb enough to get myself killed again, promise me you won’t change time.”

“Okay, Chloe. I promise if given the choice to let my best friend die, I’ll let it happen. To friendship!”

Chloe laughs. “Why me, Max? Why are you buddies with this broke ass punk girl?”

“What’s not to like? You’re so cool, and quirky, and you always had my back. I should be the one doubting our friendship.”

“To be honest, I like you because I am selfish. You never needed me to change. You never judged me. You were my peace and home, and you made things good again.”

 

They return to Chloe’s truck for the last leg of their journey to Seattle.

“Remember the dreams we had, on that swing set?” Max asks. “To travel the world, take pictures…you promised to be my bodyguard.”

“I’ll always protect you. Together, we’re unstoppable. I don’t think the world will be able to handle us.”

Max smiles. “When we get to Seattle, you can live with my folks for a while. But eventually, I think your dreams deserve another chance.”

“I hope you mean Los Angeles,” Chloe grins.

“Where dreams are made of. A new start. I’m sorry you weren’t able to go with Rachel, but how about it?”

“You’re not her replacement.”

“I know.”

And for the first time in years, Max sees Chloe smile, a genuine, hopeful smile amidst the chaos they left behind.

“Should we take a picture?” Chloe asks after they drive past the town line into Washington State. “Selfie?”

“I thought you’d never ask.” Max takes out her camera.

Whatever this world held for them, at the very least, they would move on together, through a reality they must know and accept.

From the side of the road, a doe walks up to the truck before jumping away, vanishing one last time.


End file.
